Flights from Iraq reopen

LONDON - The first commercial flight between Baghdad and London in 20 years has touched down at the British capital's Gatwick Airport after being delayed by the volcano ash cloud.

Flight IA237 landed at 10.08am (NZT) yesterday after coming via Malmoe in Sweden on the 10-hour trip.

"I am happy. But if Western companies had been more co-operative, we could have started [flights to the West] several years earlier," Iraq's civil aviation director Adnan Blebil said.

There were 30 foreign and Iraqi passengers, including Transport Minister Amer Abduljabbar Ismail and Iraqi Airways chief Kifah Hassan.

"There will be two flights a week now. They will fly via Malmoe on the way out but the return flight will be direct," Blebil said.

The first flight since sanctions were imposed by the United Nations after Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait came into effect was scheduled to depart on April 16.

- AAP